Jeannette Ng

This was another great premise (Victorian missionaries venture into Faerie to convert the Fae - because if the Fae had existed and the Victorians had known about them, of course they would have tried to convert them) but this time the book really and truly delivers on the premise. The author herself describes it as 'gothic fantasy with a theological twist'.

I loved it although I can see some elements would put people off - it's slow-moving, written in a style that almost feels Victorian and show more there's lots of theology - but this felt like a very authentic Victorian gothic fantasy with lots of Bronte references which made me very happy. It reminded me a little of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell (albeit that was set earlier in the 19th century) but it has the same feeling of period authenticity combined with a lot of weirdness and darkness. These aren't the fairies our Victorians imagined...

This would be on my list of best books of 2017 and a special shout out to John Coulthart for the amazing cover art.

"They say the Howling Duke and the Chief of Winds are more cruel. They say He Who Commands Fear is stronger, more powerful. The Keeper of the Markets is more calculating. The Colourful King, She Who Sleeps for the Mountains and the Lost Emperors are more unpredictable, more changeable..... This is all true, you have to understand." He swallowed, visibly. "But I daresay I fear the Pale Queen the most."
"Why?"
Mr Benjamin grinned at my question, his lips stretching tight over his blunt, brown teeth. There was no humour in it. "Because she is most human." show less

A missionary goes to Arcadia to convert the fae to the Protestant religion. His sister follows, taking residence in a brooding gothic pile while waiting for her brother to return. She finds herself perturbed by the question of what happened to her brother's predecessor and his fascination with the language of Enochian, supposedly the language of the angels. Prickly theological questions arise over the nature of the fae, whether they have souls, whether they can be saved. Her brother returns show more and following close behind is the court of Queen Mab who intends to take her entertainment from her pet missionary and his sister.

I have many complicated feelings about the premise of this highly original and imaginative fantasy novel, mostly around the idea of religiously converting beings of myth and legend, but they are difficult to express at the moment. Suffice it to say that this is a singular piece of work by a powerful new voice. show less

Captain Samson Furneaux assures me that his navigator is truly terrible and it would be no time before we are sufficiently lost as to be within sight of the Faelands.
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Uh.

Catherine's beloved brother Laon is a missionary to the Faelands, out to convert the native fairies and gnomes to Christianity. When his infrequent letters cease, a concerned Catherine decides to voyage to the Faelands herself and discover what has become of her brother.

Under the Pendulum Sun is a hell of a book, no pun show more intended. Imagine Wuthering Heights in Fairyland. It's surely no coincidence that our heroine is named Cathy. Laon's mission is a cavernous and ruined castle on a simulacrum of the English moors, only no English moor ever dwelt beneath a literal pendulum sun or a moon that is also a fish.

I really hope you don't mind religion, because Under the Pendulum Sun is (appropriately) full of it. Oddly, though, I didn't mind all the Christian references. Ng has built such a strange and marvelous world that the biblical bits felt quite at home alongside all the fantastical elements. Years ago I read The Book of Strange New Things, which was about a missionary who goes off to an alien planet to convert the native aliens. I didn't like the book, partially because it was dull and the worldbuilding was lazy, but also partially because I don't particularly like Christian missionaries and find their entire pursuit personally insulting. For some reason, though, Under the Pendulum Sun didn't tick me off in that regard.

Speaking of Christian, I really hope you don't mind lots of, uh, biblical goings-on in your reading material.

The book's main flaw is how long it takes Laon, Catherine's proselytizing brother, to show up. The first 90 pages of the book is just Cathy wandering around her brother's mission wondering where Laon is and why no one will answer her questions. To be honest, I nearly gave up on the book entirely. But then Laon finally dragged his lazy ass onto the page, and things immediately took off.

Because the crux of Under the Pendulum Sun is Catherine and Laon's strange, hypnotic relationship. They relate to each other in such a strange way, and they make Under the Pendulum Sun absolutely sing. The Gothic genre is all about atmosphere, which the book has in heaps. But Cathy and Laon are at the heart of that atmosphere, and they carry the whole book together.

I don't know if I can really recommend this book, because there's some parts that are going to be seriously off-putting to people. But it's a creepy little treasure and a gloriously successful fantasy take on the Gothic novel. show less

For as much as I love SF/F it can sometimes feel a bit same-y.

This book is not same-y.

There is so much I love about this book but one of the main things is the risk that author took in writing it. It takes place in a land of magic and otherworldly creatures but the conflict at its heart is incredibly human. It's fantasy but it's also much more gothic-inclined than any other fantasy I can think of. Somehow the author combined the stifling smothering haunted-castle gothic narrative with the show more twisted unknowable fear of folk-influenced fairy stories and threw in a hefty dose of theological theorizing to boot.

AND IT ALL WORKS!

Yes it can be slow-paced. But that works. That absolutely works. Yes the descriptions are vague and confusing but it makes so much narrative sense. The idea of characters in an immense, uncharted fantasy world being confined mostly to a claustrophobic castle is immensely difficult to envision, and yet the author manages to make it all work, to make it worth reading.

I would, however, including some trigger warnings: this book contains incest. In fact incest is one of the driving plot points of the book and the incest is overt and described many, many times, especially in the last half of the book. This can be difficult or triggering for readers so it's worth noting

I can't wait to read more from Jeannette Ng!!! show less